Receive the latest worth-the-trip updates in your inbox

HOTEL STAYS... can involve a whole kaleidoscope of goals. You may be looking for the classic rest 'n relaxation set-up during your away-from-home overnight. You may want to spend some time alongside a pool, or dining in a fine restaurant, or simply spending an hour in a lobby, a prime people-watching spot. Mostly you want to leave the workaday cares behind you for a day or two, all while feeling a tad special or extraordinary or beyond. Few places around California feel as "beyond" as the Mission Inn, that nook-nice, cranny-tastic castle of a hotel that's plunk in the middle of Riverside. It's been a celebrated star getaway for decades — Ronald and Nancy Reagan honeymooned at the hotel — and today the Mission Inn honors its legendary past in a number of ways. One of the newest is the...

OLD HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR PACKAGE, which is very much focused upon, fabulously, a series of treatments at the on-site Kelly's Spa. The package includes a Little Luxury Massage (30 minutes), a Hollywood Oxygen Glow Facial (that's 50 minutes), a classic manicure, eyebrow sculpting, and green passion tea. Will you be red-carpet ready following all of this getaway-gorgeous primping? No worries if there isn't a red carpet nearby, for there is that long walkway through the Mission Inn's nicely appointed lobby. You can strut down that walkway a few times, feeling the after-spa glow, then settle into a chair, with a tea or cocktail, to get some people-watching, vacation-relaxing in before you go. Prices, details, and such? Follow your own red carpet in this direction.